COLUMBIA — John Tucker is a 48-year-old resident of Paquin Tower, a public housing apartment complex in central Columbia for seniors and people with disabilities.

Tucker moved to Columbia from East St. Louis, Ill., in 2010 and lived in Worley Park until he found an apartment at Paquin Tower.

Tucker doesn’t know how to read but said God helped him learn the Bible after he was given a copy of it while in jail. He said he was lying in his bunk and said to himself, "Lord, if you exist, prove it to me."

He said he put the Bible on his chest and knew its contents the next day. The experience, he said, inspired him to draw most of the comics that hang on his walls and almost exclusively depict scenes from the Bible.

These days, Tucker is learning to read and taking GED classes so he can pursue his two major goals in life: to publish a comic book and to be a minister.